


A Bad Way

by LeoOtherLands



Series: All the Broken Pieces [17]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Acceptance, Canon-Typical Violence, Death, Depression, Gen, Missions Gone Wrong, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23114158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeoOtherLands/pseuds/LeoOtherLands
Summary: It was not a bad way to save a life.
Series: All the Broken Pieces [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1386661
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5





	A Bad Way

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this mainly for catharsis, but I adore Kito and feel he needs more love. Though this doesn't fit much with the rest of the stories I have planned for my favorite medical-nin, I decided to place it in his series, All There Is, just the same.

The running was hard. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. A simple recovery mission. A simple thing. Not even outside the bounds of the Land of Fire. Just a retrieval of a squad that’d run into foul weather and got caught in a cave-in when they tried to shelter. Nothing serious, nothing dangerous.

And yet…

We were running, running for our lives with the injured squad sealed in scrolls I carried on my belt. Running from… what? Who? I wasn’t even sure.

None of us were, and that was the most terrifying. The ANBU at my sides and flank _didn’t_ know what was behind us. They only knew there was blood splatter on their masks and the fronts of their gear. Blood splatter, like what spotted my face and dried between my fingers.

Because we were bringing back only three of the four-man squad we’d been sent for. The fourth… The fourth had thrown himself in front of me, to save my life and I’d been unable to return the favor, unable to do anything but kneel there on hands and knees, his blood pooling around my fingers.

Such a useless medical- _nin_. I could not save anyone.

“Owl,” the Hound-masked ANBU on my left said my code name and shoved me. I sprawled toward Lynx on my right with a cry. Only to cry out again, when Lynx physically picked me up and threw me. Threw me away from an explosion and shower of splintered wood.

I tumbled over the forest floor, rocks and sticks tearing at my skin, shrubs and underbrush scratching my face and those worthless hands of mine. I was crying, weeping, when I came to my knees and scrambled further away from the blast zone. I couldn’t even tell if Hound and Lynx were alive, only that they’d saved me. Saved me because I carried the scrolls.

Me.

Saved me.

The worthless one.

My hand encountered thin air and slid out from under me, taking me with it. I tumbled down an embankment I didn’t even know was there, blinded by my own tears, and wailed. More rocks cut me. One connected with my head and sliced a flap of skin from my scalp. I stopped my articulations after that. I was silent when I came to rest on a ledge, breathing heavy, sprawled out. Arm hanging over an edge of stone. My fingers dangled into nothing, and when I turned my head, I saw empty space dropping down to a sparkling river slipping passed in the moon light.

“Owl!”

It was hard to turn my head, but I did, and there was Crow above me, his lither, tiny body hunched on the embankment I’d fallen down. And behind him… Behind him-

“Crow- _san_!” I shrieked it, and the young man, the _child_ that was my ANBU companion, jumped away just as the ground exploded where he had crouched a moment before.

But… but there was no time to think.

“Here! Down here!”

My voice seemed to be the only thing strong. And that was well.

“Owl!”

Crow’s call didn’t matter, except to show me where he was. I unclipped the scrolls from my belt and threw them, hurled them. No time to think if they would be caught. No time to see. I trusted Crow. Trusted him with my life and all my heart, and I just opened my arms and accepted he caught the scrolls and left me to my fate, even as I accepted what launched into my embrace.

I wrapped my arms around us both and kicked out with all my might, taking us over the edge and into the air. If Crow called out to me, I never heard it. All was silent, and then water filled my ears, bubbling and gargling, and drifts of air came from my lips with blood. Tinted red with it. Streamers of the crimson liquid trailed away, upward, through the water, as I sank.

I was going to drown. Drown before I bled out or was otherwise cut apart by what I held to my chest, and that was alright. It was not a bad way to die, I supposed. Not a bad way to end a life that’d done not much good.

It was alright.

 _Time to let it go, Kitō…_ The thought was an exhale. A final.

It was not a bad way to save a life.

**Author's Note:**

> This salty ball of angst and glitter is an original fiction author and fan fiction writer, who literally lives for comments and reader interaction. Even if this is nothing but inarticulate vowel screams, lol. He exist on a flotilla of social media, separated into a wide array writery things.
> 
> If you are crazy enough to want to see what I'm writing on any given day, and maybe try tempting me into writing something specific, feel free to join me in my personal writing Discord [Midway](https://discord.gg/jsQw96p), or friend me on Discord at LeoOtherland#7066 if you would rather chat one on one.
> 
> On Facebook I can be located on my [author page](https://www.facebook.com/LeoOtherland/) for all things original fiction, or in the [AO3 Armada group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/601270063618951) for all things fan fiction.
> 
> On [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RoseOfOtherLand) or [Tumbler](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/leootherlands) I primarily run with the fan fiction crowd and I seldom post and/or tweet anything, but if you want to drop me a line, I am always up for a chat.


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